Ascent of Badger Mountain on 2013-03-16

Ascent Trip Report

After Beezley, I drove towards Badger. Edward Earl's directions from cohp.org are spot on. The house near the intersection at the 7.1 mile mark is inhabited, so I would guess that you can access the road to this point year round. I drove a little further, stopping short of the 7.8 mile mark where Edward started. I stopped at the top of a small downhill section so I wouldn't get the Yaris stuck. I followed his directions, first stopping at BM Ski. There was a main BM and a directional BM with a do not disturb sign near them. Additionally, Andy Martin left a register here back in September. I am the first to sign it since then. I headed the 3/4 of a mile to the abandoned barn, and then to the unnecessary lower radio tower point. The views down the gorge to the west to the river were nice. It was also great to watch the black clouds coming over from the Cascades, and I snapped a few dramatic pics of the barn in front of the black sky. On top of the radio tower bump, I actually ran into a guy from Sprint who drove up a different dirt road. Apparently Sprint is upgrading the tower for 4G. He was cool, and was taking some pics of the gorge when I arrived. Dinner was Munchen Haus in Leavenworth.

I began the drive up to Stevens Pass, thinking it would be as easy and fast moving as the drive over Snoqualmie in the morning. It was not. From about 5 miles east of Stevens Pass all the way to about 5 miles east of Gold Bar was white-knuckle driving in quickly-accumulating snow, and at times, near-whiteout conditions. I considered turning around when I was still east of Stevens Pass and taking I-90, but I didn't. I should have. At one point, surprisingly low, I actually lost control of the Yaris and had my wheels going at a hard left turn while I went straight. That was enough to keep me on track and I didn't crash into anything. I was never so happy to see Gold Bar (and likely never will be again). From there down, the road was fine, no snow. Snow accumulation was from about 800ft and up, crazy low...

GPS Waypoints - Hover or click to see name and lat/longPeaks: climbed and unclimbed by James BarlowClick Here for a Full Screen MapNote: GPS Tracks may not be accurate, and may not show the best route. Do not follow this route blindly. Conditions change frequently. Use of a GPS unit in the outdoors, even with a pre-loaded track, is no substitute for experience and good judgment. Peakbagger.com accepts NO resposibility or liability from use of this data.